Find out how popular the last name Neilsen is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Neilsen.

Neilsen, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Neilsen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Neilsen in America

Neilsen is the 17764th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Neilsen surname appeared 1,577 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Neilsen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Neilsen to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Neilsen

The surname Neilsen is of Scandinavian origin, specifically from Denmark and Norway. It is derived from the Old Norse name Njáll, which means "cloud" or "dark one." The name was originally spelled as Nielssen, Nielson, or Nielssen in its earliest known forms.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Neilsen surname dates back to the 13th century in the Danish town of Roskilde. A merchant named Njal Thorvaldsson was mentioned in a local church record from the year 1267. This early spelling of the name was Nielssen.

In the 14th century, a Norwegian man named Njall Eriksson was recorded in the Icelandic Sagas as a chieftain and lawspeaker in the region of Vestfold. His name was transcribed as Nielson in these ancient texts.

The Neilsen surname began to spread throughout Scandinavia and eventually to other parts of Europe and the British Isles. One notable bearer of the name was the Danish astronomer Rasmus Neilsen (1809-1884), who made significant contributions to the study of sunspots and stellar parallax.

Another famous Neilsen was the Norwegian playwright and poet Björnstjerne Björnson (1832-1910), whose full name was Björnstjerne Martinius Björnson Neilsen. He was a Nobel laureate in Literature and a prominent figure in the Norwegian romantic nationalist movement.

In England, the Neilsen surname can be traced back to the 16th century, potentially originating from Scandinavian settlers or immigrants. One example is the English poet and dramatist John Neilsen (1570-1615), who was known for his satirical works and plays performed at the Inns of Court.

Throughout history, variations of the Neilsen surname have appeared in various regions, such as Nielsen in Denmark, Nielsson in Sweden, and Nilssen in Norway. These spellings often reflected local language conventions or scribal preferences in recording the name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Neilsen

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Neilsen.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Neilsen was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Neilsen has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Neilsen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Neilsen, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!